Amazon Lee and the Tomb of the Dragon King

By Kailin Gow and Kira G.

If you like Stranger Things, James Patterson's middle grade books, and Chronicles of Narnia; you will love Kailin Gow and Kira G.'s fantasy middle grade/young adult STEM book series like this one. 15-year-old genius Amazon Lee and her parents, Scientist Dr. Stephen Lee, his wife, Historian Dr. Sandra Lopez, and her father's eccentric young sister and inventor Dr. Annabelle Lee, whom Ama calls Auntabelle, is on their way to China to celebrate her grandfather's birthday. But someone had stolen the beauty serum she had been working on to stop aging. Auntabelle had traced the thief's whereabouts to China, known for its beauty secrets....and to the Tomb of the Dragon King, or the First Emperor of China. Legend had it the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang was looking for the elixir to immortality. Did he find it and who is the 13-year-old boy named Zheng that she finds at the Tomb and what is his connection to the Dragon King? This is a STEM/ELA/Social Studies Book Series with Discussion Questions at the End of the Book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sparklesoup Inc.
• Release date: Feb 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781597482240

Kailin Gow

It's official! Read about Kailin and her books being adapted into films and tv series here: https://filmdaily.co/obsessions/kailin-gow-loving-summer/ FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KAILIN GOW AT: https://linktr.ee/KailinGow including how to get a free book from her! Kailin Gow is a million-selling international and USA Today Bestselling author of over 680 published books! She writes in many genres under her name and other pen names. She has been an invited speaker on Book Expo America, appeared on CBS News about writing books with social issues, and the Top 15 National radio regularly on women's issues, women in film and Hollywood, and leadership. She holds a Masters in Management from USC and degrees in Social Ecology, Criminology, and Filmmaking. She is an author influencer on Instagram, owns a podcast network with multiple channels, is a multi-award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, actress, and host. Her books have been made into games, animated short films, and series. Currently, a number of her book series have been optioned, are in development, or pre-production, including her YA Fantasy Sci Fi Thriller FADE (which has been optioned) and Red Genesis (also optioned) by Netflix producers. Kailin Gow is a regular guest in radio and television on women in Hollywood and filmmaking, naming the top Women Execs to Watch. She is a judge in film festivals, writing contests, and is also a voting member in the Academy Awards. AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL MILLION-SELLING AUTHOR, PRODUCER, AND TV PERSONALITY Kailin Gow is an internationally-recognized multi-award-winning multi-genres USA bestselling Asian American author and woman director/filmmaker who has written and published over 400 books under Kailin Gow and her pen names. She is both traditionally-published as well as indie. Considered a digital publishing pioneer, her books have been downloaded over 10 Million times around the world. She is known as one of the most prolific authors internationally who not only writes novels but screenplays fast, but of world-class quality they win prestigious awards like the ALA YALSA Awards and Los Angeles Film Awards. Besides having gone to law school, she holds a Masters Degree in Communications Management from USC and Drama/Film and Social Ecology Degrees from UC Irvine. She has also been a longtime member of TED Talks. She is the first Asian American author to have sold over 1 million books and to be featured on Amazon.com's homepage as an indie Author Success Story. Her success as an Indie Author and advocate for Indie authors during the early Kindle days has inspired many to take a plunge to become authors. The first Asian American woman who is independently published to appear on Amazon's homepage as an Author Success Story, she also represented Amazon as an author spokesperson during Amazon's Kindle Family Launch press conference in Santa Monica and at Book Expo America where she was an invited speaker. A digital publishing pioneer, she was one of the first authors and publisher to publish digitally back in 2001. Prior to becoming a full-time author and filmmaker, she worked as an Exec in Legal and Production at Walt Disney Company, a writer/producer for Cable Television, an Exec at high tech start ups, and Exec at Fortune 100 Hotel and Travel Corporations where she has managed and trained hundreds of employees on world-class service and operations. She has also been a professional model, a tour director, journalist, re-organization consultant, a secret mystery shopper/consultant for top brands, and professional speaker who has been an invited speaker at Book Expo America, Girl Scouts, Asian America Heritage Week, and more! FUTURIST AND SOCIAL INFLUENCER A social influencer, she has over millions of views on her YouTube channel and her Vimeo channel with over 1.5 million views on her Bitter Frost trailer and award-winning animated short film alone. She is a judge on writing contests for writing incubator social sites, has been a member of TED Talks, and is one of the most quoted modern living authors today. She has also been regularly published as a contributor on Fast Company magazine on articles about publishing, leadership, business, and social issues. https://www.fastcompany.com/1800256/social-media-and-future-publishing-industry

Book preview

You never stop learning. There is so much to see and do, so much to live for, that you can't possibly learn it all in a single lifetime. - Kailin Gow

Chapter 1

Stolen Beauty

T oot Toot Bam Bam!  The cacophony of sounds jolted me from my dreams of sleeping on a bed of clouds while waterfalls with dolphins splash into a sparkling rainbow pool behind me. 

Wahhh! I cried out, as my eyes opened wide from being submerged in one of the deepest dreams I’ve ever had.

Double strength!  Double strength! my robotic plushies cried out next to me.  One was a T-Rex named Tony, whose tiny arms were trying to hold a small trumpet, which he was blowing.  Thus the Toot Toot noise.

The other was a little palm sized purple rabbit named Grape, who was equally as limb-challenged.  Bam Bam, he kept jumping up and down on a small drum. 

Double strength! They both cried out. 

Wake up! Tony announced, tooting his trumpet again.

Wake up, Sleepy Head! Grape squeaked.

Okay, okay, I said groggily.  Stop all noise at once, I commanded.

Suddenly Tony and Grape stopped moving, as though their batteries were depleted. 

Tony the T-Rex was my earlier robotic plushie which I made years ago when I was 5 years old.  He was Prototype 2, and had the basic movements of a robot, the limited vocabulary I programmed in him, and limited interaction.  He was as basic as it got, when it came to robots. 

But when Grape came along, and I installed Prototype 3 in him, suddenly, I had a plushie who can walk, jump, record sound and video, and interact to an extent.  A new tiny chip, the size of a quarter of my fingernail, allowed me to make Grape into a Smart machine. 

Like a computer, who can act on its own when given the right commands. 

As if he was set to demonstrate this, Grape powered up, hopped off his drum, landing on top of my lap, and squeaked, You have 29 minutes left to get ready. Should you stay in bed a minute longer, I will use my secret weapon on you.

Not that, I said, trying to scramble out of bed. Shoot, how did my sheet get tangled all over me?

I tried to unwrap my sheets but it was a big jumbled mess, like the vines of a jungle tree.  What was I dreaming to get all tangled up like this?

Remind me to set my Dream Machine sleep machine to ‘light’ next time, I said.

Noted, Grape squeaked.

Having the ‘sleep on a cloud’, ‘waterfalls’, and ‘playing with dolphins’, and the ‘rainbow pool’ all together is a bit much, I said.  But it did the trick.  Look, I was completely knocked out, as though I took sleeping pills.

Knock. Knock.

Hello, Ama? Mom and Dad’s voices called out from behind my bedroom door. 

Getting ready! I shouted back. 

How did the Dream Machine worked? Dad asked.

Like a charm, I said, still untangling myself from my sheets.  I slept like a rock.  Had to use 2 of my plushies to wake me up.

Wake up!  Time’s Up! Grape said.  I unleash my secret weapon now, Rock Head!

My eyes cringed as I tried to cover my nose before...too late! 

Grape hopped around, and his bunny tail wiggled before letting out a foul odor.  Skunk bomb.

Why did I programmed that in, I don’t know. Maybe because I thought it would be funny if I had used Prototype 3 in a plushie like Tony or something maybe a boy would like?  Scratch that.  Girls would find that funny too.

I rolled out of bed, trying to escape the skunk bomb and fell to my pink shaggy carpet on the ground with a thump.

Hey everything alright? Mom asked. 

I’m just tangled up in my sheets, I said.

The door opened, and Mom and Dad walked in, already dressed for our trip. 

Phew! Dad said, fanning the air in front of him.  What is that smell?

Smells like skunk, Mom said, wrinkling her nose.

How did a skunk get in here? Dad said, looking around.  Ama? He walked over to my window and opened it.  Ama?  Where are you?

Down here, I said. 

What are you doing down here? Mom said, walking over to help me untangle myself.

Fell out of bed, I said.  These sheets are like...

Webs, Mom said.  Super lightweight, but strong.  It’s a new fabric your dad and Aunt Anabelle cooked up the other week, and I thought it was so silky smooth that it would look nice on your bed.

Feels really soft like air, I said.  That’s probably why I felt like I was floating in a cloud.

Hopefully, Dad said.  Anabelle and I call it the Cloud Sheets.  Just something we thought might take off.  People are really into those pillows that conform to your head these days, we thought why not sheets that conform to your body?

Maybe, I said, but this one is too conforming. I can’t get out!

Well, we’ll have to take a look at it and see what happened, Dad said, taking out his Swiss Army pocketknife.  Sometimes technology is too advance for its own good.  And sometimes, all you need is a good old-fashion tool.  He pulled out the scissors from the pocketknife and began working on cutting the sheet off of me.

And I guess the skunk smell... Mom said, taking out her phone to push a few buttons.  The ceiling fan in my bedroom began spinning, and a puff of rose scent came out of the vents.  Was an experiment gone wrong? she asked.

I had it as an option in one of my robotic plushies.  Grape over there used it as one option if one of my first commands were not followed.  You know, if I didn’t get up on time, then he will release the skunk bomb. 

Oh...  Mom shook her head in understanding.  That’s actually pretty smart.

A little drastic, maybe? I said. 

Could be, but better than others.  It’s just an odor that is a strong repellant.  Useful in nature to ward off attacks...hence...the skunk bomb,  Dad said. 

Minimal damage, but huge impact, Mom said.  Something that some empire builders, or Emperors, fail to think about when they charged and conquered their neighbors. Not only were warfare expensive and costly, but the damage to the land and massive deaths were something the winning side of the war would inherit as well.

Mom, Dr. Lopez, was an expert in Ancient Civilization so she would know.

War, Dad said, "took strategy